NEWS RELEASE 

Students from 12 high schools in St. Lucie, Martin and Indian River counties flexed their mathematical muscles last month in the annual Math Olympics hosted by the Indian River State College Math Department. Participants competed both individually and as teams from Fort Pierce Central, Fort Pierce Westwood, Jensen Beach, John Carroll, Lincoln Park Academy, Martin County, St. Edward’s, St. Lucie West Centennial, Sebastian River, South Fork, Treasure Coast and Vero Beach high schools.

Competition was fierce as individual opponents started the day with a 40-question written exam assessing mastery of algebra, geometry and trigonometry. The 10-question team competition followed with extra incentives for first responders.

Geoffrey Zheng of Lincoln Park Academy won first place with a perfect score of 39/39 in the individual competition, followed by a tie for runner up between Holden Young of Martin County High School and Chris Blancher and Jimmy Desai from Jensen Beach High School. 

First place in the team competition went to Nishanth Chalasami, Lei Zheng, Peter Zheng and Zane Zudens from St. Edward’s. Lincoln Park Academy Team #1 and Vero Beach White Team tied for second place with the hard work of Carlos Arce, Jason Dennis, Bradley Gilrane, Geoffrey Zheng, Nikki Bouldin, Jacob Hoekzema, Colin Rhodes and Josh Tucker.

Prizes included tuition scholarships, gift certificates for Pearson products, books and puzzles. In addition to rigorous competition, participants had the opportunity to network with College instructors and tour the IRSC campus.

For additional information about IRSC’s Math Olympics or the Math Department, contact Dr. Duane Chin Quee at (772) 462-7919 or dchinque@irsc.edu.